2/13/2011

[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

Jesse Watters, a Fox News producer, is kind of known for the “ambush” interview, where people refuse to sit down for interviews, so he approaches them on the street and tries to force them into one. So Think Progress thought it would turn the tables on him. Think Progress has allegedly some “insider” accusing Fox of making things up and being a propaganda arm of the Republican party.

Yes, that is Think Progress making that accusation. Mind you, they are not specifically citing anything that was made up, just generally someone who supposedly was an insider, who may or may not have been paid to say this, saying they made something up.

Anyway, Jesse Watters has waaaay too much fun explaining the trade to this amateur.

Oh, there I go again with that violent rhetoric, “ambush.” I will flog myself now. And sure, “flog” is violent rhetoric, too, but I mean that literally.

(No, not really.)

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: The alleged Fox insider thing is from a piece by Eric Boehlert, who has railed on anonymous sources so many times in so many contexts it renders his wholly anonymous (and clearly partisan Democrat) source a complete joke. I almost did a post about it the other day, but couldn’t muster the energy to care.

I think maybe a better question would have been, “Do Republicans really eat babies ?” Now, there is a hard hitting question.

These lefties never get out to talk to other people and they think this stuff is plausible. If Fox News “makes stuff up” they could show an example. That would be effective. This is just high school journalism.

If Fox were making stuff up, their ratings would more resemble those of MSNBC, which does, and MSNBC’s product has subsequently been rejected by the viewing public, which has found Fox to be much more “fair & balanced” than its competitors.

Waters could have said at some point no, Fox doesn’t make up stuff but Talking Points certainly does. Along with CNN and MSNBC and the rest of the lame-stream media. He could of further twisted the knife by saying unlike the others Fox lame stream ethical standards so it would not make stuff and to finally plunge the knife all the way in he could have said even if Fox had no ethical standards with all of the leftist crap they still would not need to make things to get ratings.

Notice he never said yes or no. The reason being, if you noticed, the tinknoprogress guy tried to apply his own answer to the question. No matter what answer, a yes or a no, the tinknoprogress guy would have twisted it into something else. So not answering was the perfect response.

I would have replied with (after mocking how the “ambush” was done – seriously, you need a full crew because a full crew is un-nerving, and puts the subject off their game) a simple “Tell you what, I’ll respond to the “allegation” when you can actually give me some specifics as to what this person – whomever he or she might be – says we made up…”

Notice he never said yes or no. The reason being, if you noticed, the tinknoprogress guy tried to apply his own answer to the question. No matter what answer, a yes or a no, the tinknoprogress guy would have twisted it into something else. So not answering was the perfect response.

reff, I understand your point but it also seemed to me that Waters appeared unsure of himself – whether it was not knowing the most effective way to respond due to his understanding the inherent dishonesty of TP, or whether it was an attempt at keeping TP guy on the defensive, I don’t know.

I do think his seeming evasiveness and lack of direct answer might easily be seen by those who already have suspicions of Fox, as confirmation of their suspicions.

Methinks Jesse got caught up in how he could turn the tables, and couldn’t quite get it done to turn the guy away.

Answer (in the calmness of my family room), “Do I believe an anonymous insider at Fox who says Fox makes stuff up? I’ll tell you who makes stuff up, the anonymous insider you’re talking about. Look, if you want to do a real ambush, you need to come with a fact that will be hard to explain away. So, if you want to do a good job ambushing me on whether Fox makes stuff up, you find a story that you think Fox made up, and ambush me with that. But you better be sure, cause if you try to BS me with something, I’ll give you the facts behind it and you’ll be looking foolish.”

“But thanks, they say copying someone is the best compliment. So thanks again. If you really want to find out what you want and how to ambush someone, why don’t you apply for an internship, put me down on your application as a reference. Have anice day.”

When I saw Lee Fang’s name on the Think Progress piece I figured it was just more of him making things up from scratch, the way he did with some of the alleged Tea Party videos and other pure fabrications issued under his name.

It’s amazing that Soros shells out his ill-gotten gains to pay these clowns. He could have hired a bunch of homeless people off the street to do the same thing as Boehlert and his colleagues, and spent 1/3 the money.

Wait. Think Progress says that an anonymous source has allegedly made a non-specific accusation…

And it’s FOX that they think is making stuff up????

The whole story is made up!!! How is this “news”? “Somebody may have said something about you, do you have a response?”

These people seem to be incapable of self reflection. They are certainly beyond parody – because this video is like a parody of parody already. To try to parody ThinkProgress would require a parody of parody of parody!

I also think pointing out the anonymity was the way to go. How can you judge the credibility of an accusation from someone not even named, and for all you know, who may not even exist? A few questions along that path would have had the TP guy on the defensive for the rest of the “ambush.”

Daley makes reference to a oblique attack that Perry is a closeted gay the “goodhair” thing coined (not really) by the late Molly Ivins as a roundabout way to discredit my obvious pointing out a smirking unprofessional smart alec reporter that didnt have the class to answer a question just threw insults and we were supposed to think that this was ground breaking…

I find it interesting that the only progressive income tax passed in Alaska was Reccomended by Palin in 2004 as chair of the commission that supervised the industry and pushed for it when she worked for Murkowski, then thought he didnt go far enough for her and changed it with 100% democrat support (the only way it would pass)when she was governor

So if you make the comment I hate Palin (which isnt true but you and the truth are sometimes not in the same room most of the time)

It is unclassy and unprofessional to mock a lying liar? who knew? When thinkregress claims that someone somewhere told them that someone makes something up, any response that does not aggressively mock thinkregress is insufficient. For you to make it out that he committed some kind of journalistic faux pas when the clown from thinkrgress was not

Your feedback loop is itchy again, huh? Save your breath, and our time. We know your position. And it has been rejected by everyone except you and your big oil cronies.

Something got cut out … For you to make it out that he committed some kind of journalistic faux pas when the clown from thinkrgress was not engage in journalism, but pure dishonesty, makes you out to be a bigger clown than I had previously thought. The thinkregress clown was treated way nice, and with way more respect, than he deserved.

It is kind of humorous how epwj objects to me noting that he hates Palin, calls it a lie, when he asserted that Palin hated big oil, sans any support, other than the horrific tax plan he has objected to about 92847264859271638498562 times now, which would actually tend to substantiate my characterization as opposed to his.

Waters has gone after the John Adams program, (which sought to endanger the lives of CIA interrogators),ACORN, SEIU, Ward Churchill, Bill Ayers, that’s just off the top of my head. He’s
a hero in my book,

I think Fox News treated Think Progress very nicely, in this case. He was smarmy, but I liked that. It was confident. They act as though they have nothing to be ashamed of, and don’t dignify every crazy conspiracy theory with a serious, angry reaction.

If Fox asked ‘Who?’, I think it would look worse. The conspiracy theory would be that Fox News is desperate to identify the whistle blower, even though nothing has been blown.

Jesse nailed the response when he noted they ‘really aren’t bringing it with that question’. It’s a lame, yes or no question, phrased in an obnoxious cannot-win way, with absolutely no specifics.

If Fox News made up a story, the insider would obviously tell us which one. Anyone who is more suspicious of Fox because of this video is an imbecile.

Kman, why dignify that kind of question with an answer? He obviously devotes his hard work to a reputable news station, and anyone who thinks this needs an answer is a lunatic who would not be convinced by a denial.

But there’s more. Watch the video again, and ask yourself why he couldn’t have said ‘no’. It would have been twisted. There was no way out of it. I think the fact Thinkprogress had no better question to ask, and went in for the ambush anyway, is all the evidence a reasonable person needs that their charge is without merit.

Fox News tells you all day long they are Fair and Balanced. They constantly behave in a way that shows they content they have integrity. The question was already answered. When you’re calling someone like that a liar, there is no answer that can satisfy the kooks.

And now, the kooks having nothing left than the pathetic ‘he didn’t deny it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ argument.

It says a lot about Kman’s lack of integrity that he parrots such an argument.

Isn’t it funny that whenever somebody has absolutely no facts or evidence, they claim “some inside sources” say this or that. I could say ANYTHING that way. I could say “Some inside sources in the White House say that Obama is a committed socialist.” Oh, wait a minute, Obama IS a socialist. Sorry, no need for any verification there. His first two years in office already proved that.

Jesse Waters is a very likable guy and although the long silences were unnerving, I think he handled this “ambush” really well. He knew it was a question with an answer that would lead to more questions, so he simply ignored it and changed the subject.

The point is taken. Think Progress are a bunch of ankle biters, snapping and nipping at the lower extremities of anyone that they think they can get their pointy little baby teeth into. Spoiled infants should be ignored otherwise there is no end to their demands to be taken seriously.

If Jesse really was part of a news organization that was trying to make up stories and lie to America, he probably would have answered the question at length. He’d try to con us by taking an empty question and issuing a denial that shouldn’t even be possible, since Jesse doesn’t even really know what the accusation specifically is.

Instead, he doesn’t acknowledge the pointless question because he’s got no reason to con anybody. If they want to ask him about a specific ‘made up story’, he could justify it with a source, or admit it’s a weak claim. But in this case, there never was a question worth answering, and Jesse acts like an honest person dealing with, as sgi says, an ankle biter.

It was well handled. There’s no benefit in engaging the Think Progress guy either way, and he didn’t provide anything exploitable.

It’s not like there’s a magic answer that would’ve gotten the TP guy to rethink his worldview, turn off his camera, and go get a job in a value generating field. Denying him content was the best response.

Jesse should be a guest on Red Eye, which is the appropriate forum to discuss Think Progress and the best cell phones for interviews and social justice.

And I bet had the dirty hippie handled the ambush better (without shivering, asking a smarter question, breaking the ice instead of letting the interviewee look drastically more sympathetic) Jesse would have offered him some work.

Watters did an outstanding job. The critics have no idea what its like to be in this situation. He handled it quite adroitly, as it was obvious he was not taking the guy seriously, yet he never lost his cool or told the guy what he thought of him. Being shadowed like that is annoying at best and Watters behaved like the professional he obviously is.

Dude I saw a bumper sticker the other day, the “Big 0″ ‘pepsi’ symbols in place of the “O”s:

He Won.
Get Over It.

After having a snit fit for eight years over a “stolen” election… utterly ignoring the potential for a “correction” at the 4 year mark — as well as repeated conclusions even by left-oriented newsrags like the Miami Herald and the other papers in the area that, in actual fact, Bush won, this pinhead libtard actually thinks ANYTHING done subsequently by GOP supporters in regards to The Big 0 is even vaguely comparable?

I am an insider at Think Progress. A really inside insider. Inner inner sanctum. Honest, I am; really truly; Soros’ honor.* And I can tell you for a fact that Think Progress makes stuff up all the time.